Govinder Nazran

Born in Birmingham in 1964, tragically Govinder Nazran passed away in 2008; however leaves behind him a considerable creative legacy that will inspire future generations of contemporary abstract/fine artists wishing to follow in his footsteps. Starting his career as a graphic designer/freelance illustrator, Nazran is perhaps best known for his vibrant (and admittedly, slightly leftfield) animal compositions, which primarily captured the abstracted likeness of cats and dogs, whilst also on several illustratively memorable occasions also included horses and elephants. Nazran’s creature features were very Rothko-esque to many people’s minds (which of course, is no bad thing), all vivid colour blocks and embellished with the more than welcome addition of gold leaf, glitter, staples, string and any other ‘alternative’ object which Nazran thought would improve the overall look and feel of a particular piece.

A not insignificant percentage of Nazran’s animals arrived on his pictorial scenes in pairs, somewhat Noah-like, yet the acclaimed artist would often go to great lengths to explain that this was more to do with his exploring of opposing themes in society and the juxtaposition of what might well be perceived as one of the same thing to the untrained eye. Rather than let’s say preserving a mating pair from any imminent and biblically-proportion floods looming on the horizon. Yin and yang, family, love, Mr and Mrs, the ongoing battle between Good v Evil. You get the drift. When Nazran wasn’t picturing twice as nice animals in the 2D form, he busied himself interpreting them to a more three-dimensional plain, which again were realised in both abstract and figurative form and function and produced towards the end of his life especially. Today, as when he was at the height of his professional art career, Nazran’s work appealed to – and found new homes – as far a field as America and Japan.

Nazran’s art training commenced in the north of England back in the early 1980s, when he attended Bradford University to take up his studies in Graphic Design, before he added to his higher education qualifications at Lincoln Art College where he went on to obtain a B/TEC HND in Graphic Design and Illustration; gaining distinctions at both levels/establishments. With his appropriate qualifications in the bag Nazran headed to the bright lights of London, approaching all the major publishers he could and hawking his portfolio work around here, there and everywhere to gain a foothold in the creative/media industry at this time.

Nazran’s perseverance paid off when he landed a role as an illustrator for children’s book titles, which he applied himself to for six months, before swapping it for an alternative position and different location. This time as a freelance illustrator in Cambridge. After a stint in the east of England, Nazran ventured back north to where he had first studied in West Yorkshire, setting up home in Saltaire as a result, along with his wife and young daughter. Back in familiar territory as such, Nazran secured a new role as a designer for a greetings card company, which saw him involved in all aspects of the process from product design through to development. Obviously this remit didn’t fulfil him completely, and when the opportunity arose to become a photographic art director for another firm, Nazran jumped at the chance. This whirlwind lifestyle afforded him something akin to a jet-set existence, as he travelled the world directing fashion shoots, yet by 1993 he’d had enough of the constant globe-trotting and decided to return to the less hectic illustration-based 9 till 5; and managed to go back to working in the card design industry in a freelance capacity.

A few years later – and with a decent back catalogue of personally-crafted art to his name – Nazran bit the bullet and arrived at the conclusion that he wished to see if he could actually make it as a bona fida professional artist in his own right. With this in mind he beat a path to one of the UK’s leading fine art publishers, Washington Green, who pored over and scrutinised his portfolio, before offering to represent him. This was the start of a fruitful working relationship, which eventually bore witness to some 40 plus of Nazran’s unique designs translated for print reproduction purposes and entering of the mainstream market, which in turn helped him make his name in contemporary abstract/fine art circles. And an elevated position from which he never looked back until his untimely demise at the age of just 44 in 2008.